Today, companies must strike a proper balance between the top and the bottom lines, while keeping in mind that neither growth for growth's sake nor a pure profit focus offers the optimal path to superior shareholder value. CEOs who consistently achieve value-building growth do so by adhering to a strong strategy and promoting innovation, geographic expansion and risk taking.

This article discusses a study of best practices among large firms in carrying out succession planning programs.

Angel investors are changing. Here's what they're looking for, how they operate, and (because the devil is in the exit strategy) what they expect for their money.

Shared services strategies are improving the effectiveness and efficiency of a range of back-office services. But such strategies must be built on a foundation for achieving higher levels of service and performance. Here is a comprehensive analysis of the service management capabilities needed to succeed.

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We have observed boards move between three stages in the past five years. Most boards prior to the debacles at Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing and others were in stage one: Mighty Proud to Be There. Following the wake-up calls issued after the revelations of scandal, boards were thrust into a stage in which most have reached a Plateau, but have not progressed beyond there. Finally, we have observed a few boards that have launched themselves onto the path of the third stage, a High Performance Board.

What does a board and its leadership need to do differently to get unstuck and to evolve to the High Performance stage of board work? We will discuss eight essential steps the board and its leadership can take to move the board up the performance curve and to more fully capture and exude the spirit intended by the changes enacted through laws and regulations. Moreover, these steps will boost the return on investment of your board to the extent that you can realize the full potential your board has in order to become a competitive and strategic asset for the organization.

As more companies move to outsource services currently performed in-house, they'll likely encounter a slew of risks, some of which become clear only when something goes badly wrong. Managers will have to mitigate these risks in order to reap the substantial benefits that outsourcing provides.

A consensus is emerging that global economic power is moving towards Asia, with India and China at the center of the region's rise. This study looks at the evolving relationship between the two emerging powers and explores the opportunities for them to grow together, learn from one another and collaborate to overcome shared problems and achieve shared goals.

A detailed look at how to calculate WACC.

Product-focused organizations are becoming more customer-centric and learning that their current processes cannot deliver on new market requirements. Thus, once again, companies are reevaluating and redesigning their business processes-customer- and noncustomer-facing-in search of increased customer value, and internal efficiency. This new round of BPR (1) differentiates processes based on customer profitability and cost to serve; (2) occurs within the context of an overall organizational change; and (3) is built on sustainable behavior change.

How management thinkers from India are changing the face of American business.

Get away from the grand eloquence and echoing emptiness of the conventional mission (or vision or values) statements. Make them more than buzzwords to really mean something to employees' day-to-day.

Four steps to ensure that the right decisions are made by the right people.

Why does IT integration often hinder a smooth corporate merger process? Among the reasons are that defining a well-structured approach can slip far down the priority list, and companies can get bogged down deciding which applications should be kept or discarded by the combined entity. BCG research and case work have identified six key IT integration lessons from banking mergers that can benefit companies in any sector. A principal learning is that the best design for a merging IT landscape often involves choosing "clusters" of applications from each entity, rather than assembling a diverse collection of single applications, or picking the entire landscape of one merger partner.

P&G's Tremor division claims to have cracked the code on measurable word of mouth using a concoction of old metrics, new approaches and a heavy dose of secret sauce.

Bus and train systems habitually run at a loss. But public-transit agencies could lower costs and raise the quality of service by emulating best practices from around the world.

Editor's Note: there is no real management learning value in this article, but if, like me, you have ever used the public transportation facilites around the world, you might find it an interesting read just the same.

At a time when many corporations are engaged in unrelenting searches for ways to improve operations and reduce costs, there is one aspect of organizational life that has largely escaped scrutiny: Performance Appraisal. Perhaps this is because performance appraisals have become an unquestioned fact of life in most large organizations. As with most unquestioned facts, a critical examination can prove beneficial.

In this article, the author points out that the hard costs of operating formal performance appraisal systems are measured in billions of dollars annually and that the soft costs might be even higher. The primary offsets to these costs are the purported benefits of performance appraisal systems. Upon inspection, these appear to range from non-existent to minimal.

This article discusses the statement: It is possible to speed up corporate growth - but not infinitely. Today start-up, tomorrow at the stock exchange - this is impossible for some practical reasons. The question is, however, how fast an organization can develop from start-up with a team of five to a business with 50+ people. For this discussion, Greiners model of Five Phases of Growth is introduced.

As the years go by, we resign ourselves to the pessimistic view that "dreams are just dreams". And yet, for IESE Professor Luis Huete, dreams are essential to a full life, which consists essentially of developing and mobilizing personal resources to attain inner and outer abundance. In the book "Construye tu sueño" ("Build your Dream"), Huete invites us to identify the factors that determine how much we achieve and become aware of our enormous potential. The journey starts with self-knowledge and learning to identify our inner voices. But we will also need to develop various self-leadership disciplines.

Over the last twenty years, the field of value-based management (VBM) has changed significantly. VBM began with a breakthrough performance metric and has matured into an entire management framework that focuses organizations around value creation. Companies are often hailed for the great results they have achieved since implementing a VBM framework into their organization. There is a complication with value-based management, however. Doing it right is not easy. Recent reports have indicated that almost half of the companies that have adopted a VBM metric have had mediocre success. The difference between success and failure with VBM depends on how well a firm integrates VBM into the culture of the organization.

Many companies today outsource the wrong processes to the wrong vendors in deals with the wrong structure. The resulting chaos and rancor that has come to typify much of the IT-outsourcing market is a clear indication of the need for a simplifying but rigorous framework that provides practical guidance.

Making the right outsourcing decisions requires answering three questions:

* What to outsource
* Whom to outsource it to
* How to structure the outsourcing deal

Getting the right answers to these questions can transform your outsourcing initiatives into what you have always thought they should be: powerful components of your firm's overall competitive strategy. How do you get the answers right? This study from Deloitte Research describes how Value Chain Dynamics can help firms to resolve their outsourcing issues and ensure that their outsourcing contributes directly to their sustained competitiveness and to their ability to create and maintain shareholder value. Learn more from the PDF file attachment below.

From DeLorean Motors to Webvan, the shortcomings of a bad strategy are usually painfully obvious -- at least in retrospect. But good strategies fail too, and when that happens, it's often harder to pinpoint the causes. Yet despite the obvious importance of execution, relatively few management thinkers have focused on what kind of processes and leadership are best for turning a strategy into results. Experts who study strategy offer some tips for improving execution.

Will business-book summary services give you an edge? If so, which one is best?

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In the business world's hall of fame a special place is reserved for Al Ries. He is without any doubt one of the most prominent gurus of strategic thinking. Regretfully, Ries's continued influence is becoming today a considerable danger to successful brand building and brand management.

VC Brad Feld tries to explain the notion of participating preferred (a maligned and typically hotly negotiated issue in many venture capital investments), how it works, and its financial and emotional impact on a deal.

Inc.com has more than 100 free tools that are available to Inc.com members. From sample policies and agreements to worksheets and checklists, Inc.com has tools to help you in every area of your business.

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